What Kmart lacks in total quality management

Putting up and implementing proper training procedures and programs for staff and Personnel

Retention of trained staff to reduce retraining costs

Maximized use of specialization

3 . Manufacturing

Application of effective international accounting standards

Auditing standards

Financial reporting standards

Compliance with labor laws and conventions

4 . HR functions

Equipping employees with necessary information

p Subsequent upgrading of proper Hr between employees and shareholders

Introduction of progressive training programs

Devolution of people from the Hr Function

Introduction

Being in the industry for over 40 years , Kmart has been the people 's favorite store until recently when its dominance recessed and its focus in efficiency went down too . This is due to numerous reasons including lack of enough personnel and staff training , manufacturing and HR functions . Kmart was the first major discount merchandiser in the US . Of recent , Kmart 's performance receded and in addition it is now facing stiff competition from other stores like Wal-Mart and Target

Doubtful questions arise from the lack of efficiency from the staff trained due to lack of necessary training education in its big stride departments e .g . pharmacy and grocery . This has seen the relapse of Kmart as the main market dominant franchise . The trained staff becomes reflective towards important issues , of less gain to the corporation (Martin L , 1993

Human resource is of great importance in an organization without necessary having to expound on it . Management and strategizing on the functions is the pivot to improvement and proper functioning of the department (Greg B , Lyle Y , Mel A , Gipsie R , 1994 . Kmart has not as per se put full use of its human resource personnel and function to its full advantage and optimizing on its main objective , which is to record gains at the end of trading financial years . At a closer look in its income statements and cash flow statements , it has recorded loses in past periods creating deficits , closures and even laying off its staff HR affects all other departments directly and its importance is not to be demeaned (Geneh M , 1997

Kmart 's strong image has suffered greatly in its respect to turning around manufacturing and putting its undoing in the past years all on its back at a glance is not possible . This has greatly affected its manufacturing where sales have reduced over the years , leading to its manufacturing department capacity not to function on its full output Having d for bankruptcy , Kmart does not have resources to pay its workforce and capital to buy modern equipments to enhance its manufacturing

Analysts have described Kmart 's as a people 's retail outlet , which can be rewound and the organization could start making and recording mammoth gains . Therefore , Changes in internal and external merchandising flexibility , market prices just to mention but a few , would turn around the tables (Marcia L , 2003

What it lacks in manufacturing , human resource function and training is just but a way other organizations are suing to their advantage to outdo Kmart . Appropriating , doing re-evaluations and having reserves are examples of ways in which it would record a turn around and start gaining from its operations (Martin L , 1993 . Additionally , its real estate portfolio is a strong foundation and would be a program that would see it start to shoot and stand on its feet again

Proper implementation and execution of duties show good leadership and even managerial skills (Marcia L , 2003 . This results in improvements in its main profit segments . optimizing and improving quality of functions of various departments in an organization . Speculative synopses have affected negatively K-marts for decline in gain and performance in general . Knowledge , maximizing of resources and being persistent in the market industry will see it start making gains again . In 1999 , Kmart record sales worth 33 and was second . This is an evidence of its capability to perform (Greg B , et .al 1994

Training

In a case Kitchen vs . Kmart held earlier , Kitchen sued Kmart for selling a riffle to Knapp when he was intoxicated (drunk ) and Knapp later went in the bar he was drinking , followed Kitchen in his truck and shot him Holding that Kmart did not have any negligence in its part and substantial damages awarded , it has shown that the seller of the riffle in Kmart 's store did not act diligently , and the shooting of Kitchen would not have occurred (Linc A , 1998

Lack of retaining trained staff is a big deal for Kmart considering the fact that if they were to re-hire , they were to re-train new staff which is a loss of labor time and resources used earlier . Considering the fact that Kmart had to close a figure rounded to around 500 outlets , and an average of 200 ,000 employees , it acts as an example of a clear-cut way of draining trained work force (Linc A , 1998

Kmart uses trial and error approach in training its staff . It subsequently lacks management system and thus a culture of improperly trained new staff summed up with the old incompetent staff brings up a huge lot of personnel who can 't perform as required . As a result there is a poor sales return which leads to lying off of employees . This brings about one of the main attributes of Kmart 's failure of performance which is under employment in its many stores . Kmart 's underemployment exceeds those of Wal-Mart who have fewer stores and more employees in its stores as contrasted with K-mart (Martin L , 1993 . For instance in figures prior to 2002 , Wal-Mart employed an average of 313 employees per store and K-mart average 120 employees per store Wal-Mart had 1 ,383 ,000 employees in 4 ,414 stores worldwide as compared to K-marts 220 ,000 with 1 ,831 employees . This lack of human capital led to losses amounting to an average of 2 .6 billion for fiscal year 2002 on sales 2 .6 billion , which attributed to its closing down of nearly 600 stores and associated re-organization costs . According to (upper hill author of : why we buy ) the percentage of shoppers increases by 50 percent when there 's employee initiated contacts and 100 when there 's employee initiated contacted and use of dressing room (Marcia L 2003

In addition Wal-Mart provided a employees using the most modern technology empowering them with the latest relevant information which is user friendly . Contrary to Wal-Mart , a considerable figure of Kmart work force don 't get a chance of using relevant information that is in a user friendly format , since information relayed lacks relevancy . Furthermore , the information does not enhance since the training given to new and already existing staff is not up to standard (Marcia L , 2003

Moreover Kmart over the years has continued using the same training program not taking into consideration the changing training applications . Across its venturing environment , Kmart arguably does not have any measures of taking care of deformed persons who want to shop in their outlets . In one notable case , customers in wheelchairs are not awarded any help in their shopping , and in one particular case , a handicapped customer went ahead to a case against them in one of the courts in the US . Wal-Mart on the other hand supports the training of their handicapped individuals and workforce and has gone a step ahead to restructuring and reconstructing its stores to enable the handicapped to carry out their shopping with ease

Kmart lacks proper criteria in job training a factor which leads to discriminates while training its staff . This affects directly ones privileges of employment . Arguably Kmart 's has not put measures of training its supervisors and other staff on matters concerning luring customers to come back to there outlets , either being the new or frequent shoppers . The strategies deployed in Kmart are wanting (Elaine B , 1994 . Kmart should adopt some strategies from Wal-Mart whereby Wal-Mart have come up with mission statements , have outlined vision statement and guiding principles . Wal-Mart has also come up with steering committees which ensure proper running of any training programs initiated . Furthermore , Kmart has to employ the use of identity resolution solution in its day-to-day works . If they train their employees in identity resolution , they would be able to run and check through all of Kmart databases , both positive and negative

In the recent past , Kmart bought Sears stores in an 11 billion US dollar deal . The then management board argued that steers had the commodities the customers needed and Kmart would provide the best avenue for sales by bringing the goods closer to the customers . Recent research has shown that this has not been the case . Instead , since Kmart purchased Sears things have gone on the wrong side . Kmart had to rise to the occasion and train both its staff in Kmart and Sears which proved to be a big challenge

Wal-Mart 's trained staff plays a major role in ensuring customer satisfaction and interest in shopping in Wal-Mart . Like Wal-Mart , before doing any mergers , Kmart should have put in place effective accounting standards , financial reporting standards and auditing standards . This way , Kmart should have been in a better position of knowing its capability to train staff and personnel in preparation for the intended merger with sears and thus leading to subsequent growth sustainability A survey done early this year has shown that Kmart 's Failure to train their staff has led to it being short listed as having poor training in service and shelf pricing . Immediate consequences are that there are shopping carts lying idle in most of its stores e .g . in Michigan as no shopper is ready to shop in a place that goods are not price tagged

Consequently , questionable morals of workers is quite consequential not taking into perspective the lack of training of the development team which deals with issues like acquisition and installation of monitoring cameras installed in stores because of handling pilferage and theft issues (Greg B et al , 1994

Manufacturing

Kmart lacks management prudence in manufacturing , which is its main undoing . Additionally for a big chain store which competes with much bigger or less equal organizations engaging in similar business ventures both in the USA (which is its main market ) and in parts of Europe e .g in Czech republic , Britain and Slovakia , Kmart has failed substantially in fields with certain dependency . Communication and marketing investments in technology , brand management and haphazard expansion are just but a few fields affecting manufacturing in which K-mart gave and presumably continues to give a cold shoulder (Elaine B , 1994 . The manufacturing supervisors , its management , and the overall management have failed the retail outlet chain store by being too much of conservatives rather than prudent and safeguarding the going concern aspect of the chain store

K mart should follow the examples set by Wal-Mart which has made sure that it controls its main cost areas including personnel , cost of goods sold , distribution and real estate . Moreover , Wal-Mart negotiates strongly for favorable prices for its merchandise including perishables This is because manufacturing gives an upper hand in profits and gains made . Failure of Kmart to monitor effectively its manufacturing sector has led to profit decline over the recent financial periods and in addition to seeing its retail outlet go down which once had the industry in its palm . Letting it slip away by making big loses and even filing for bankruptcy in 2002 is such tainting and detrimental to an already expansive retail giant having been in the venture for the past 40 years (Linc A , 1998

As earlier mentioned , interrelatedness or intertwining of various departments with manufacturing is purely inevitable . In a case showing lack of standards in manufacturing , taunt retail giants declined to make a deal with K-mart as they purported that it lacked the capacity to sell its Texel and big stretch caulking , which is a improvement production company . In a great deal other developing and developed countries continue affecting manufacturing of products which is the home country of Kmart . For instance , China is considered one of the main threats to Kmart . The government of China has subsidized costs for its most performing industries as a rapid development strategy and the cheap labor found there makes outlets like K-mart find it cheap to import goods from there that are less expensive . This affects the manufacturing in the region and including Kmart 's resulting in deteriorating quality of its TQM in terms of output and production minimum (Linc A , 1998

Lack of a minimum wage and pay to people working in the manufacturing sector has seen most of them moving to less attractive but paying jobs Additionally non - existence of trade barriers has seen close of manufacturing which is an undoing brought about by the government (U .S and subsequently , K-mart loosing greatly in this field

Kmart should borrow from Wal-Mart who has ensured that their employees in the manufacturing sector get to work in time therefore ensuring consistence in goods supply . Until recently , Kmart did not provide any means of providing transport to its workers in the manufacturing department . This affected times at which workers got into their places of work and production fell sometimes leading to lack of certain products (Linc A .C . 1998 . Furthermore , non-integration of supply chain processes has cost Kmart much . As result , consumers hardly do their shopping in their stores leading to reduced sales , which in turn affects production (which decreases in volume wise

Board perspective in manufacturing is notably important in retention of production outputs and increments . Their decisions adversely affect all lines of performance . Notably Kmart was unable to meet its demand and supply in to reach an equilibrium state in which both the supplier and user meet their equilibrium satisfaction . Market forces should be applied at all times thus stabilizing the market and distribution which is affected directly (Linc A , 1998

Due to poor training in the manufacturing field , K-mart couldn 't reliably predict manufacturing runs and trends hence couldn 't effectively have consistent output periodically . K-mart also lacks large industrial park ready for occupancy lack of a consistent style and brand image for all categories (shopper . K-mart did most of its manufacturing until recently when it decided to subcontract and increase its production that subsequently increases sales (Linc A , 1998 Non-performing plant , building , equipment , loans , lack of market development have been negated , adversely affecting manufacturing leading to declines in gains , profits and production

HR Function

According to business economies Kmart has depressed and readily shown its might in the retailing industries mostly since back in the 1990 's Analysts have continuously stated lack of necessary information to manage the human resources in a contribution in its downward trend subsequently technology is a major undoing , which quite cannot be divorced from information . Failure to integrate local and corporate cultures to enhance human resourcefulness affects business ventures both locally and abroad . In a cited case , the human resource director in charge of Czech and Slovakia headquarters outlined that in to function well abroad , managers should be open minded , confident and ready to learn from others and lay off their egos

While Wal-Mart took this advice seriously and engaged its upper level managers in a series of educative trainings , which resulted to commitment from CEO 's and other upper level managers , Kmart made no move towards achieving the same goal . This may be termed as one of the deficiencies in Kmart which led to its poor performance

Kmart lacks HR management in dealing with supply chain practices which intimately inconvenience the success of supply chains . An interactive role of managerial and employee would be the most rewarding turn-round measure to this demerit . Consequently inadequacy of HR management affects competitive advantage and best HR practices . In dealing with the same problem , Wal-Mart Facilitated a training program for its shareholders and employees which were aimed at improving the two party 's relationship . Also the program was geared towards creating a general feeling to the employees as either internal owners or customers of the chain stores

Proper training and presentation of employees has led to Wal-Mart having a stronger management , automation and distribution systems which k-mart would adopt in efforts to improve or increase on its gains /profits . This proper training would put to a stop to cases such as the case whereby Kmart back in 1990 's discharged off and sued their human resource director due to her continuous errors in processing data and loss of memory which a psychiatrist attributed to a stress - related illness The illness was attributed to change in her responsibilities and reduction in pay . Notably Kmart has been suing its human resource officers in consultation services leaving a backlog in the HR department (Greg B et al , 1994

Procurement and costing of HR functions requires specialists and strategists . As Kmart lacks this , they lack a leader to lead them which mostly leads to frustration and affects HR output . Also Kmart human resource function is incapacitated when it comes to adequate replacement and rehiring of staff or maintaining a steady flow of necessities with its authorized representatives

HR function advocates for devolution of people management from the HR function which K-mart hardly does . In a Notable case , Kmart lacks management and executive compensation after laying off its workers Workers are being dismissed without dismissal retention fees , which reduce the faith of its employee . Lack of accountability in decisions made by the HR function , benefits and segregation of duties properly sees it perform poorly (Linc A .C . 1998

Conclusion

Analysts have described Kmart 's fall as a people 's retail outlet that can in no time , start making and recording mammoth gains . Changes in internal , external merchandising , flexibility , market prices among others would surely turn around the tables

What Kmart lacks in manufacturing human resource function and training is just but what other organizations use in their advantage to outdo Kmart . Appropriating , doing revaluations and having reserves are examples of steps by which it would turn around and start gaining from its operations . Additionally its real estate portfolio was a strong foundation and would be a program that would see it start to shoot (Greg B et al , 1994

Proper implementation and execution of duties show good leadership and even managerial skills . This results in improvements in its main profit segments . quality of functions of various departments in an organization Speculative synopses have affected negatively Kmart 's management effectiveness which has majorly circled as its reason for reduction in gain and performance in general

Knowledge maximizing of resources and being persistent in the market industry will see it start making gains again . In 1999 , Kmart record sales worth 33 and was second and it has and evidence of performance (Geneh M , 1997